SAN FRANCISCO: Google yesterday unveiled a touch-screen notebook computer designed for high-end PC users, throwing down a gauntlet for Apple and its MacBooks.
Google said its Chromebook Pixel computers blending tablet and laptop technology, boasting heavyweight Intel chips and screens tailored for rich graphics were released in the United States and Britain, starting at $1,299.
“People will give up a MacBook Air for this,” Chrome senior vice president Sundar Pichai said while showing off the premium end of what, to now, were low-priced notebook computers that serve as windows to Internet-based services.
A Pixel model featuring built-in connectivity to Verizon mobile Internet service will hit the market in April at a price of $1,449, according to Google.
The version available Thursday allowed connections to the Internet with wireless hot-spot technology or cables. “It’s a great looking product,” Om Malik of technology news website GigaOm said at the Pixel debut in San Francisco.
AFP
